Background

Nowadays, teachers all over the world are faced with the challenge of integrating digital progress into their lessons. And the device right at the center of the discussion is the smartphone. Many want to even ban it from schools. As a brand, Samsung always wants to provide the world with meaningful solutions and therefore partnered with the university of teacher education in Zug, Switzerland, to help teachers and children find common ground in the classroom and infuse new joy into one of the most relevant school subjects: history.

Describe the creative idea

The app «A touch of history» turns your smartphone into the interface of historical figures. You’ll be able to swipe and interact through the imagined phones of Mexican painter Frida Kahlo, German scientist Albert Ein-stein, Italian discoverer Marco Polo or Swiss Industrialist Alfred Escher and therefore discover their history.

Describe the strategy

Turning a common enemy of teachers, the smartphone, into a valuable asset and therefore enhance the learn-ing effect with an immersive mobile experience.

Describe the execution

Within the app, you can dive into the smartphone of four characters: Albert Einstein, Frida Kahlo, Marco Polo and Alfred Escher. You can admire pictures in the gallery, read how they interact with friends and colleagues in their chats and social media profiles, listen to their playlists. The valuable effect comes in with the gamifica-tion. To unlock more content, every player needs to answer security questions about the character. The an-swers to the questions are spread throughout the smartphone. Through this treasure hunt, users start to learn about history in a much broader sense and in an innovative and playful way. The app was developed in col-laboration with the University of teacher education in Zug, Switzerland and it’s entertaining content is com-pletely based extensive historical data.

List the results

The result is the best a brand can achieve: The app is now an official part of the curriculum and is being inte-grated in pilote classes. It is being expanded to include further subjects, reinforcing Samsung’s commitment to education over the long term.